Chennai, Nov 9 (IANS): Launching high speed scooters and a new passenger carrying three-wheelers, expanding dealer network are what electric two- and three-wheeler maker Lohia Auto Industries Ltd is planning, said a top company official.

The increased sales volumes will give the company economies of scale and in turn cut down the overall costs.

He also hopes that the Indian government extends the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) II subsidy scheme beyond March 2024 and does not reduce the import duty on vehicle and component imports.

“Next year we will be launching our high speed, high powered electric two-wheelers. We are also selling on a pilot basis a new passenger carrying three wheeler. The mass numbers will be seen from next year onwards,” Ayush Lohia, CEO told IANS.

According to him, in the two-wheeler segment the company will soon be crossing swords with other high speed two-wheeled electric vehicle (EV)makers like the Greaves Electric Mobility, Ather, Ola and others.

Lohia Auto’s one lakh per annum plant is located in Kashipur in Uttarakhand and the company has about 100 dealers majorly in North and Central India and few in Eastern and Western regions of India.

Lohia said the company will come to the South Indian markets with its proposed high speed two-wheelers and a new passenger three-wheeler.

“In two years time we will have about 200 dealers across the country,” he said.

According to Lohia, the government should extend the FAME II subsidy scheme for two-wheelers for a couple of more years so that the entire two-wheeler market migrates to EVs by 2030.

“The three-wheeler segment will be the first one to turn entirely EV by 2027 and followed by two-wheelers. If the government does not extend the FAME II subsidy beyond March 2024, then the 100 per cent adoption date will go further away,” Lohia said.

According to him, the pace of EV two-wheeler sales has slowed down after the Central government amended the subsidy scheme.

He also said soon there will be consolidation happening in the EV segment not through acquisitions but with some of the existing players stopping their operations.

One of the benefits of more players in the EV segment is that various technologies will be tested out.

With the year 2023 nearing its end, Lohia looking back said, the reduction in the EV two-wheeler subsidy has impacted the sales and looking forward to 2024 he hoped the government extends the subsidy scheme not only for two-wheelers but also for three-wheelers.

“Only when the sales volumes increase, higher localisation can happen and India can become self-sufficient in the EV ecosystem. That is where the subsidy plays an important role,” Lohia said.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at v.jagannathan@ians.in)